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SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Tuesday invited people in the United States and Britain to test its AI chatbot, known as Bard, as it continues on its gradual path to catch up with Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.

Bard, ChatGPT and other similar artificial intelligence apps churn out essays, poems or computing code on command and have taken the world by storm as the biggest new thing in tech since the advent of the iPhone.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told staff that after testing Bard with 80,000 Google employees, the chatbot would be tested with the public in the United States and Britain as a "first step" before going out to more countries in other languages.

"As more people start to use Bard and test its capabilities, they'll surprise us," Pichai said in a memo to staff seen by AFP.

"Things will go wrong. But the user feedback is critical to improving the product and the underlying technology," added Pichai, who had faced some criticism within the company for rushing to catch up with Microsoft.

In the launch, people wishing to play with Bard can sign up on a waiting list at bard.google.com website, distinctly separate from the tech giant's search engine.

"We've learned a lot so far by testing Bard, and the next critical step in improving it is to get feedback from more people," Google vice presidents Sissie Hsiao and Eli Collins said in a blog post.

As exciting as chatbots can be, they have their faults, Hsiao and Collins cautioned.

'Constantly learning' 

Google has so far proceeded more carefully in its rollout of generative AI to consumers, in contrast to Microsoft's choice to swiftly make the products available despite reports of problems.

ChatGPT's OpenAI is backed by Microsoft, which earlier this year said it would finance the research company to the tune of billions of dollars.

Asked by AFP how its product was different from ChatGPT, Bard said that unlike its Microsoft-backed rival it was "able to access and process information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results."

The bot also underlined that it was still "under development, while ChatGPT has been released to the public. This means that I am constantly learning and improving, while ChatGPT is likely to remain relatively unchanged".

OpenAI recently released a long-awaited update of its AI technology that it said would be safer and more accurate than its predecessor.

Much of the new model's firepower, known as GPT-4, is now available to the general public via ChatGPT Plus, OpenAI's paid subscription plan and on an AI-powered version of Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Microsoft has said that its quick adoption of generative AI has seen usage of its Bing search engine increase in recent weeks, but it is still a clear underdog to Google, which captures about 85 per cent of the global search engine market.

WASHINGTON — The US banking sector is "stabilising" after the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank rattled the industry, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will tell a summit on Tuesday, according to prepared remarks.

The collapses caused a crisis of confidence, with many customers of similarly sized banks withdrawing their money and depositing it in larger institutions — considered too big for the government not to bail them out if they faced failure.

But "outflows from regional banks have stabilised" following authorities' moves to shore up confidence and stem contagion, according to Yellen's remarks.

"Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader US banking system," she will say in a speech to the American Bankers Association's (ABA) meeting in Washington.

"And similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion," she adds.

For now, the banking industry remains resilient despite recent upheaval, said ABA Chief Executive Rob Nichols at the event.

"The overall banking industry remains strong, resilient, well-capitalised, liquid and serves customers and communities extremely well," he added, noting that authorities took swift action to prevent a bad situation from spreading.

After SVB's collapse, the Treasury, Federal Reserve (Fed) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation set out plans to ensure its customers would be able to access their deposits. A similar exception was announced for Signature Bank.

The Fed also introduced a new lending tool for banks in an effort to prevent a repeat of SVB's quick demise, and has since launched a drive with other major central banks to improve banks' access to liquidity.

Reducing risk 

"I believe that our actions reduced the risk of further bank failures," according to Yellen's remarks.

She maintains that the US banking system remains sound.

But there are fears over which lender could be the next domino to fall, with 11 US banks announcing last week they would deposit $30 billion into First Republic amid worries surrounding the bank.

A coalition of midsized US banks has also asked federal regulators to guarantee all of their customers' deposits for two years, a move that would help to halt an "exodus of deposits" from smaller banks, Bloomberg reported Saturday.

Financial authorities have been scrambling to ease fears while worries of contagion spread to Europe, as Switzerland's second biggest bank Credit Suisse came under pressure.

Rival UBS has since agreed to take over Credit Suisse in a government-brokered deal after days of market upheaval.

While US and European markets picked up on Monday, analysts say investors remain wary.

But Yellen, in her speech, is set to try to reassure bankers of the Treasury Department's commitment to safeguarding the "health and competitiveness" of the community and regional banking institutions.

"You should rest assured that we will remain vigilant," according to her speech.

LONDON — Global bank shares took another beating on Monday despite a UBS takeover of embattled Swiss rival Credit Suisse and actions by financial authorities aimed at calming investors fearing a broader crisis.

UBS agreed to take over Credit Suisse for $3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion) in a government-brokered deal over the weekend following days of market upheaval over the health of the banking sector.

Hours later, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and other major central banks announced a coordinated effort to improve banks' access to liquidity.

While shares in UBS and other banks sank on Monday, the broader stock markets fluctuated, with Asia closing in the red while European indices rose after opening lower as investors pore over details of the deal.

The Credit Suisse deal "may have some effect in reducing anxiety levels in financial markets, but it may only be short-lived, with traders left wondering which bank could be next to hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons", said Tim Waterer, analyst at Kohle Capital Markets.

Shares in Credit Suisse and lenders worldwide had already sunk last week over concerns of contagion to the rest of the sector from the failure of US regional banks.

The Swiss bank had already been shaken by other scandals, including its exposure to the 2021 collapses of investment firms Archegos and Greensill.

One concern from Sunday's deal was the effect it could have on the high-risk debt market as holders of such bonds at Credit Suisse, known as AT1, will lose $17.3 billion after authorities required that they be written off.

AT1 bonds, which offer high returns but also carry high risks, were created following the 2008 global financial crisis to put the burden of losses on investors instead of taxpayers.

"Sentiment vis-a-vis the AT1 bond asset class will likely remain weak following last night's deal," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

Shares in UBS were down more than 4 per cent after falling as much as 12 per cent earlier in the day. Credit Suisse shares were down almost 60 per cent and stood around the deal's 0.76 franc share price.

Authorities sought to reassure the markets.

The European Central Bank on Monday described the continent's financial system as "resilient" with sufficient liquidity.

EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said the reaction of "monetary authorities has been strong and rapid".

Oil down 

Oil prices tumbled on fears the fallout would slow the global economy, which was already struggling to avoid recession as inflation remains elevated.

"If banks face tighter regulation and pressure to further improve their capital ratios, it could suggest that many consumers and businesses will find it harder to borrow money and that could feed into weaker economic activity," Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, noted on Monday.

Gold, seen as a safe store of value in times of economic turmoil, topped $2,000 per ounce for the first time in more than a year Monday before paring down gains.

It was the highest level since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine just over one year ago.

"How much further gold can gain will largely be determined by how many more financial institutions have to be bailed out or fail in the coming days," noted Rupert Rowling, analyst at trading group Kinesis.

Fed focus 

The market volatility came ahead of the Fed's policy meeting this week, with speculation mounting that it will pause its interest rate hikes to provide some stability to markets.

The more dovish Fed outlook weighed on the dollar.

The collapse this month of US regional lenders Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate sparked fears of contagion as worried customers withdrew cash.

It led US authorities last week to promise support for other lenders and depositors, while Wall Street titans including JP Morgan, Bank of America and Citigroup pledged to inject $30 billion into under-pressure lender First Republic Bank.

"Investors are likely keeping a look over their shoulder for the next disaster in a high-interest rate [and inflationary] environment, so at best we might see markets recover some of last week's losses," said analyst Matt Simpson at City Index.

LONDON — The global cryptocurrency industry has been slammed by setbacks, scandals and high-profile failures in recent months, sparking a regulatory rush to protect consumers from fraud and scams.

Global finance was rocked by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week, and the digital currency sector was hit hard by the demise of US crypto lenders Silvergate and Signature — just months after the bankruptcy of troubled crypto exchange trading platform FTX.

Regulators are increasingly keen for oversight of a sector which boomed during the COVID pandemic when many people were stuck at home.

The global crypto market stands at more than $1 trillion and has risen sharply in recent months, although it remains far below its 2021 peak of $3 trillion.

'Huge risks' 

The number of crypto customers "grew during the COVID lockdowns", Martin Walker, head of banking at the Dutch-based Center for Evidence-Based Management, told AFP.

"They joined an unregulated market, investing with huge risks but not realising they were investing in unregulated and not (always) legal assets," said Walker, who organised a London conference last year of cryptocurrency critics.

He argued that trading platforms were conflicted by their unique position.

"They do have conflict of interests [...] as owners are at the same time both taking risk positions in crypto and selling these assets to their consumers," Walker added.

"People do not realise this is not allowed in conventional finance."

Regulators also want oversight of such platforms because they hook up customers, regardless of experience or knowledge, with the complex world of cryptocurrency.

Such trading platforms are the "link between what would be a very technically complex world, both in terms of finance and technology, with a population that's untrained and not very well informed", Bourgogne University economics professor Ludovic Desmedt told AFP.

Added to the picture, cryptocurrencies can experience volatile price swings and their value is not determined via transparent markets — as is the case with traditional currencies, stocks or commodities.

As a result, illicit transactions using cryptocurrencies more than doubled last year to almost $21 billion, according to specialist crypto firm Chainalysis.

However, this estimate does not include some illegal uses such as drug trafficking.

Crackdown 

In the United States, officials are working on a framework to oversee crypto firms, but in September the White House asked regulators to use similar regulatory rules that are applied to other financial service providers.

As a result, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) markets regulator took legal action against crypto lenders Genesis and Gemini.

And in February, the SEC ordered crypto firm Paxos Trust to stop issuing dollar-pegged cryptocurrency BUSD, a stablecoin, for the world's biggest trading platform Binance.

European Union draft laws, scheduled to take effect next year, will compel crypto platforms to be more rigorous and transparent in their operations.

In Britain, the government launched a consultation this year to establish a regulatory framework for the sector as it seeks to avoid falling behind the EU and United States.

ZURICH — UBS was up against the clock Sunday in talks to finalise a mammoth takeover of its troubled rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse and reassure investors before the markets reopen.

Switzerland's biggest bank UBS is being urged by the authorities to get a deal over the line in a bid to avoid a wave of contagious panic on the markets Monday, according to several media reports.

The wealthy Alpine nation's largest banks have been in urgent negotiations throughout the weekend, with the government, central bank and financial regulators all involved.

The 20 Minuten newspaper filmed members of the Swiss government, including President Alain Berset, heading into the finance ministry in Bern early Sunday, with the Swiss news agency ATS reporting that the building's window shutters had been lowered.

Blick newspaper said UBS will buy Credit Suisse in a deal to be sealed later Sunday in Bern at a meeting featuring the government and the banks' executives.

A merger of this scale — involving swallowing up all or part of a bank arousing growing investor unease — would normally take months. UBS will have had a few days.

However, the Swiss authorities felt they had no choice but to push UBS into overcoming its reluctance, due to the enormous pressure exerted by Switzerland's major economic and financial partners, fearing for their own financial centres, said Blick.

"When the stock market opens on Monday, Credit Suisse could be a thing of the past," the tabloid said.

While under Swiss rules, UBS would typically have to consult shareholders over six weeks, it could use emergency measures to skip the consultation period and a shareholder vote, the Financial Times newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

UBS would require public guarantees to cover legal costs and potential losses, according to a report by Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources.

Credit Suisse, the country's SNB central bank and the Swiss financial watchdog FINMA all declined to comment on the negotiations when contacted by AFP.

The government did not immediately respond when contacted by AFP Sunday.

The SonntagsZeitung newspaper called it "the merger of the century".

"The unthinkable becomes true: Credit Suisse is about to be taken over by UBS," the weekly said.

The government, FINMA and the SNB "see no other option", it claimed.

"The pressure from abroad had become too great — and the fear that the reeling Credit Suisse could trigger a global financial crisis," it said.

Like UBS, Credit Suisse is one of 30 banks around the world deemed to be Global Systemically Important Banks — of such importance to the international banking system that they are deemed too big to fail.

But the market movement seemed to suggest the bank was being perceived as a weak link in the chain.

"We are now awaiting a definitive and structural solution to the problems of this bank," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Le Parisien newspaper. "We remain extremely vigilant."

According to the FT, Credit Suisse customers withdrew 10 billion Swiss francs ($10.8 billion) in deposits in a single day late last week — a measure of how far trust in the bank has fallen.

After a turbulent week on the stock market, which forced the SNB to step in with a $54-billion lifeline, Credit Suisse was worth just over $8.7 billion by Friday evening — precious little for a bank considered one of 30 key institutions worldwide.

FINMA and the SNB said Credit Suisse "meets the capital and liquidity requirements" imposed on such banks, but mistrust remains.

Amid fears of contagion after the collapse of two US banks, Credit Suisse's share price plunged by more than 30 per cent on Wednesday to a new record low of 1.55 Swiss francs.

After recovering some ground on Thursday, its shares closed down 8 per cent on Friday, at 1.86 Swiss francs as the Zurich-based lender struggled to retain investor confidence.

Credit Suisse has been plagued by a series of scandals in recent years. Shares were worth 12.78 Swiss francs in February 2021.

In 2022, the bank suffered a net loss of $7.9 billion and expects a "substantial" pre-tax loss this year. 

The notion of Switzerland's biggest banks joining forces has cropped up over the years but has generally been dismissed due to competition issues and risks to the Swiss financial system's stability.

"The Credit Suisse management, even if forced to do so by the authorities, would only choose [this option] if they have no other solution," said David Benamou, chief investment officer of Paris-based Axiom Alternative Investments.

HAMBURG — German auto giant Volkswagen on Wednesday unveiled a new budget electric vehicle, as the competition in the EV sector revs up.

The ID. 2all model, with front-wheel drive and a range of up to 450 kilometres, will be priced under 25,000 euros ($26,300) when it hits the European market in 2025, the manufacturer said.

It is one of 10 new electric models the company plans to roll out by 2026 as it sharply boosts investment in electrification and digitisation.

Volkswagen said the new models would give it "the widest range of electric vehicles compared with its competitors" with the aim "to achieve an electric car share of 80 per cent in Europe".

"We are implementing the transformation at pace to bring electric mobility to the masses," VW Passenger Cars CEO Thomas Schaefer said in a statement. 

Thomas Schmall, a member of VW's board of directors, said the company was confident it could maintain the low price point through "economies of scale" achieved with high sales volume.

Volkswagen had said on Tuesday it would invest 122 billion euros in the shift towards electric vehicles over the coming years.

"As early as 2025, every fifth vehicle sold worldwide is expected be one with an all-electric drive," the group said.

VW said "a major reason" for the spending increase was its push to build a series of battery factories, as well as expenses linked to securing raw materials for batteries.

It plans to focus its spending efforts over the coming years on "growing its presence in the North America region".

The company also wants to increase its competitiveness in key market China, where it has fallen behind US rival Tesla and local manufacturers of electric cars.

In 2022, battery-powered cars accounted for a record seven percent of the VW group's deliveries, amounting to just over 572,000 units globally.

VW expects EVs to make up around 10 percent of its car sales in 2023.

PARIS — The world's central banks are juggling whether to raise interest rates further in order to reduce inflation, and with the banking sector in turmoil, the stakes are especially high.

Why the focus on interest rates?

Central bank interest rates long ran close to zero, but they have now been climbing for months in a bid to rein in rising prices.

Silicon Valley Bank in the United States, which collapsed last week, did not adapt quickly enough.

It booked a $1.8 billion loss on bonds whose prices were brought down by the higher rates.

A second US lender, Signature Bank, imploded over the weekend while a third, First Republic Bank, was rescued by a coalition of its peers through $30 billion in deposits.

Concern has spread to other banks considered fragile — Switzerland's central bank intervened to protect Credit Suisse with a $54 billion loan, though its shares tumbled more than 11 per cent on Friday.

Central banks must now decide if they can risk worsening the crisis by taking a hard line on inflation.

What has the ECB done? 

Despite the turbulence over the past week, the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday stuck to a planned half-a-percentage point interest rate increase.

The move reflected its "determination to curb persistent inflationary pressures", said Eiko Sievert of ratings agency Scope.

But he said the pace of rate increases should "slow significantly this year".

President of the ECB Christine Lagarde performed a balancing act on Thursday. 

In the face of calls to slow rate hikes amid the banking turmoil, she insisted there was "no trade-off" between price and financial stability.

Lagarde said the central bank for the 20 countries using the euro was ready to intervene "as necessary" to protect the financial system.

"No one else is better positioned to judge the actual state of eurozone banks and financial markets than the ECB," said analyst Lorenzo Codogno.

It "would have sent the wrong signal" if the central bank had changed tack at the last minute, Codogno said.

The decision keeps two options open, according to Frederik Ducrozet, an economist at Pictet Wealth Management.

"If the panic eases, the ECB is likely to resume tightening before long," he said.

But if the banking sector crisis persists, "the ECB would not hesitate to intervene, quickly and boldly, if financial stability were to be threatened," he said.

What are the Fed's options? 

In the United States, the Federal Reserve (Fed) said on Thursday it had lent US banks close to $12 billion under a new one-year lending program as authorities moved to ease stress on the financial system.

It said it was making additional funding available "to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors".

All eyes will be on the Fed at its monetary policy meeting next week, with investors debating whether the US central bank will continue with its rate increases.

Markets are expecting a 0.25 percentage point hike, and some analysts even see the possibility of an end to the upward cycle. 

"The Federal Reserve is focused on inflation and will look to hike 25bp if conditions allow," ING analysts said. Twenty-five basis points is a quarter percentage point.

The United States has eased regulations for its smaller lenders in recent years, where "European banks learnt their lessons from the Euro sovereign debt crisis" and strengthened "banking supervision and resolution framework", Allianz Trade said.

Like the ECB, "the Fed can have its cake and eat it too", said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.

"Operators should be confident" Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his team have "the tools necessary for delivering both without needing to trade one objective off against the other", Innes said.

Business as usual elsewhere? 

London's Bank of England (BoE) is expected to leave rates unchanged next week, as it had indicated it might do at its last meeting.

But the BoE has made a habit of springing surprises on investors and a rate rise cannot be ruled out. 

The UK economy has held up better than expected and finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday that the UK could technically avoid recession. 

The Swiss National Bank should also "push ahead with rate hikes despite the Credit Suisse crisis", said Adrian Prettejohn of Capital Economics.

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank (ECB) stuck to a planned interest rate increase Thursday as it remained laser-focused on battling sky-high inflation despite market turmoil over fears of a widening banking crisis.

The bank raised interest rates by half-a-percentage point, its sixth successive hike — but it notably omitted language from its statement about the need to raise rates "significantly" going forward.

Policymakers had faced calls to slow their aggressive hiking campaign after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the United States, the sector's biggest failures since the 2008 financial crisis. 

Fears of contagion have spread to Europe, with a market rout forcing Credit Suisse to tap a financial lifeline from the Swiss central bank.

After its share price crumbled on Wednesday, Switzerland's second biggest bank, already battling multiple scandals, sought to stave off the latest crisis by announcing it would borrow up to $54 billion from the country's central bank. 

Its shares soared more than 30 per cent at the open Thursday, and European stocks rebounded slighlty.

But US and European markets wobbled after the Frankfurt-based ECB, the first major central bank to meet since the banking turmoil began, stuck to its guns on interest rates. 

"Inflation is projected to remain too high for too long," the bank said in a statement. Its latest decision leaves the three main rates in the 20-nation currency club 3.5 percentage points higher than July.

It also insisted that the eurozone banking sector is "resilient, with strong capital and liquidity positions".

"The Governing Council is monitoring current market tensions closely and stands ready to respond as necessary to preserve price stability and financial stability in the euro area," the ECB said.

It recalled that it was equipped to provide liquidity support to the eurozone's financial system "if needed".

GDP forecast lifted 

The ECB also increased its projection for eurozone GDP growth this year to 1 per cent due in part to falling energy prices. It had previously forecast 0.5 per cent growth for this year.

It lowered its inflation forecast for this year — to 5.3 per cent, from 6.3 per cent previously — but increased it for next year.

The US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, who have both been hiking rates to combat soaring prices, hold meetings next week. 

There is much debate also over whether the US central bank will continue with its rate tightening campaign as the collapse of SVB has been widely linked to the sharp rise in borrowing costs over the past year.

While Credit Suisse has been hit by the market volatility, it had already been battling multiple scandals in recent times.

Its problems ranged from the bankruptcy of British financial firm Greensill, in which some $10 billion had been committed, to the implosion of US fund Archegos, which cost it more than $5 billion.

Its annual report this week acknowledged "material weaknesses" in internal controls.

Ahead of the market upheaval, ECB president Christine Lagarde had said the bank's council will "very, very likely" raise interest rates by another 50 basis points.

All eyes are now on what Lagarde will say at the post-meeting press conference. 

Neil Shearing of Capital Economics said Lagarde would need to "reassure investors that no major eurozone European banks are in the same position as Credit Suisse and — more importantly — stress that eurozone institutions have the unequivocal backing of the ECB".

The ECB has hiked rates at a historically fast pace to cool consumer prices after energy and food costs shot up in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Declining energy prices in recent months have helped slow inflation to 8.5 per cent in February.